Written By: - Date published: 8:32 pm, September 16th, 2010 - 105 comments
The Labour and Green parties’ activists are in uproar over their parliamentary wings’ decision to vote for the Gerry Brownlee Enabling Act. A lot of people are saying they won’t campaign for these parties and talking of voting for a minor party or independents. Is it time to damn them and leave them? No. We’re going to win our parties back.
Written By: - Date published: 7:51 am, September 16th, 2010 - 154 comments
Written By: - Date published: 10:16 pm, September 4th, 2010 - 51 comments
Where are the Greens and Labour on the South Canterbury Finance issue? Just looking at the sheer politics of the situation, this is something they should be all over. There is enormous public anger at the way National was willing to magic up $1.7 billion of taxpayer cash for its rich mates while services are being cut. This should be the tipping point, when the Left seizes the public mood for its economic vision but where’s the leadership?
Written By: - Date published: 8:48 pm, September 1st, 2010 - 28 comments
Many argue English should never have extended the deposit guarantee to South Canterbury Finance in April, or question whether the terms of the guarantee called for the pay-out. Then there’s the stink around the payment of SCF bonds. One thing’s for sure, the Nats didn’t need to spend $20 million on foreign depositors – they did it to try to kill the issue faster. Plenty of meat for Labour. Will they bite?
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 am, August 28th, 2010 - 20 comments
The Sensible Sentencing Trust has lied about having Labour’s support.
Labour must come down on the trust like a ton of bricks for this bullsh*t.
Anything else is a betrayal of Labour’s members and their values.
Written By: - Date published: 7:57 pm, August 26th, 2010 - 89 comments
Labour co-hosted the Sensible Sentencing Trust’s parliamentary conference.
That’s disgraceful pandering to disgraceful people.
It’s time Labour showed some spine and offered an alternative to the SST’s cowardly “lock ’em up” posturing.
Written By: - Date published: 11:37 am, August 25th, 2010 - 15 comments
I see Kris Faafoi’s been given the nod from the Goffice to have a crack at Mana. He’s always struck me as a decent and hardworking bloke, so I wouldn’t want anyone to take this as an attack on him personally, but isn’t it a little worrying how many of Labour’s new recruits are being parachuted in from the leader’s office?
Written By: - Date published: 11:05 am, August 15th, 2010 - 57 comments
The Herald is carrying this piece by Phil Goff – I’m sure Phil won’t mind if we reproduce it here. If you have any constructive suggestions or comments for Phil, make them below. I’ll collate them and email them to him on our behalf.
Written By: - Date published: 2:23 pm, August 14th, 2010 - 38 comments
Some within Labour believe that the tide of popularity is beginning to go out on the National government. Commentators seem to be waking up too. John Armstrong takes the Nats to task for their scare-mongering on benefits. And Fran O’Sullivan, cuts to the chase – it’s the economy stupid.
Written By: - Date published: 10:17 am, August 6th, 2010 - 280 comments
When National rammed through the first version of the 90 day fire at will law it claimed the period would be a ‘choice’ negotiated fairly between employees and employers.
Now employers are advertising it as a precondition in job ads, with the Minister backing them all the way.
Written By: - Date published: 9:36 am, August 5th, 2010 - 38 comments
Last night National and ACT voted down Grant Robertson’s ethical investment bill on the basis that “the market” would somehow solve the problem.
You can imagine what these people would have said about slavery at the time of the Civil War.
Written By: - Date published: 6:03 am, August 3rd, 2010 - 130 comments
John Key trotted out a huge lie in Parliament last week: “It took 9 years for Labour to make a complete and utter mess of the economy; it might take a bit longer than that for us to sort it out”. Let’s compare National and Labour’s economic records shall we.
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, August 1st, 2010 - 82 comments
Chris Carter’s bumbling attempt at a coup has pushed the question onto the tip of everyone’s tongue – can Labour win the 2011 election? And can Phil Goff be the one to lead them to victory? But 24 hours can be a long time in politics, and a year is a very long time indeed. The biggest mistake Labour could make now would be to get into leadership battles.
Written By: - Date published: 5:28 pm, July 31st, 2010 - 146 comments
Chris Carter is wrong. Labour can win the next election led by Phil Goff. The objective conditions make it possible, and there is enough time. That’s true even if Key calls an early election to gain the financial benefits of National’s new electoral law, as some have predicted on this site. First the objective conditions. […]
Written By: - Date published: 5:28 pm, July 29th, 2010 - 242 comments
It sounds like Chris Carter has shot himself in the foot, or rather in the handwriting.
Phil Goff and the caucus look like they have taken the required quick and decisive action.
Written By: - Date published: 11:35 am, July 29th, 2010 - 62 comments
John Key’s description of student debt as ‘dangerous’ is just the latest broadside from National against interest-free student loans.
But the real problem here isn’t who pays off the interest on student debt, it’s that we have a system that causes such debt to be created in the first place.
Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, July 22nd, 2010 - 86 comments
Disgraceful to see that National and Act have voted down Carol Beaumont’s moderate and sensible bill to take action against loan sharks.
All we got from National was weak spin and misdirection, while they sat there and committed to doing nothing. The result will be more Kiwis getting ripped off and abused.
Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, July 20th, 2010 - 82 comments
I was talking to an old friend last night. She’s been a Labour voter/supporter/activist nearly all her adult life. She lives in Rotorua. She said she might have to vote Green next year because she doesn’t think she’ll be able to support Steve Chadwick and her proposed new law to legalise abortion on request for […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:43 pm, July 6th, 2010 - 50 comments
Labour’s lineup for the next election is emerging, the usual balance between continuity and new talent. There will be some interesting electorate selections coming up. Such personality politics is always very popular of course, but more important than the people is the policy…
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 pm, July 1st, 2010 - 15 comments
If you’re at a loose end in or near Palmerston North tomorrow. This looks interesting and will help raise campaigning money for next years election. See some of Labours finest go head to head in a war of words. Featuring Palmerston North’s own MP Iain Lees-Galloway, Jacinda Ardern (Future MP for Auckland Central), Lianne Dalziel […]
Written By: - Date published: 6:45 pm, July 1st, 2010 - 14 comments
Paddy Gower has the scoop that EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little is planning to stand in New Plymouth.
Written By: - Date published: 7:51 am, June 24th, 2010 - 125 comments
A government whose raison d’etre is furthering corporate interests can be pretty damned incompetent and still do okay, because corporate msm do the PR for them. And in return for this government favouring corporate interests over all else we’ve seen countless examples of NACT committing howling errors of judgement, if not outright illegalities, only to […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:58 am, June 15th, 2010 - 49 comments
If that is the foreshore and seabed debate effectively resolved we should all take a moment to celebrate. It will be good to have the issue behind us as a country and move on. Given the agreement between National and the Maori Party it looks like the whole debate was mostly about semantics. Meanwhile in practical terms iwi say they want the kind of rights that Ngati Porou secured – under the current Act.
Written By: - Date published: 3:13 pm, June 14th, 2010 - 22 comments
Labour holds it’s MPs to higher standards than National. This post from the archives looks at some examples. If Key doesn’t act on his profligate MPs it will be time to add another chapter.
Written By: - Date published: 9:10 am, June 10th, 2010 - 179 comments
The credit card records of the ex-Labour ministers are out. Phil Goff has made it clear that any money claimed outside the rules must be repaid and some wrongful claims were paid back at the time. The test the Auditor-General set after Phil Heatley’s bizarre resignation over $70 worth of wine is whether claims intentionally breach the rules.
Written By: - Date published: 6:08 pm, June 6th, 2010 - 15 comments
Long serving MP for Dunedin North, Pete Hodgson, will step down at the next election. Nominations for the next candidate will open on July 1, and Labour’s Council has said that it is leaving the selection up to the local electorate.
Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, June 4th, 2010 - 21 comments
Back last year when National was being stung over Bill ‘Double Dipton’ English and other ministers rorting the accommodation allowance and misuse of ministerial credit cards, National thought they would get a bite back at Labour by releasing the credit card records for Labour’s terms in office too. Word around the traps is they’re going to drop it later today.
Written By: - Date published: 1:47 pm, May 12th, 2010 - 72 comments
Phil Goff has delivered his speech on Labour’s economic vision ahead of the Budget. It’s a good one, filled with core Labour values and ideas that will get New Zealand moving ahead. Goff talks about fairer tax rather than tax cuts for the rich, better monetary policy, and investing in New Zealand’s future.
Written By: - Date published: 12:45 pm, May 6th, 2010 - 61 comments
I’m glad to see Labour is stealing a march on the lazy Nats and building an alternative economic vision ahead of the Budget. It looks to be just the vision New Zealand needs, built on the twin planks of economic sovereignty and a fairer distribution of wealth.
Written By: - Date published: 3:27 pm, May 4th, 2010 - 28 comments
In 2000, Labour gave permission for two companies to carry out traditional gold-panning for tourism purposes on Schedule 4 land. National seems to think this is a great scandal. As if zero-impact gold-panning in rivers is comparable to gold cast mines and massive tailings lakes. They’re really getting desperate, aren’t they?
Written By: - Date published: 1:34 pm, May 3rd, 2010 - 26 comments
This is not a time for mixed messages. Phil Goff is quoted today as saying: “They [the Government] have got to back down from both Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel”. No! Labour’s position, and the position of the biggest single protest march since 1938, is no mining in any Schedule 4 land! Don’t dilute the message…
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